This week’s Kimi Records night at NASA in Reykjavik was a storming night of music that could only happen in Iceland. Nowhere else would they jam together Benni Hemm Hemm and Reykjavik!, bands as different as a shot of Opal and a pint of milk, on the same bill and get away with still producing a fitting finale to the label’s summer tour.

Borco were a revelation with their fantastic airy tunes and matching tracksuits (a look sported by the entire tour entourage) and three-piece punk/metal band Mordinjarnir were, as always, full of energy and humour, even though I couldn’t understand much. It’s a pity a few more people didn’t come.

Heavy, LA-style rock is big news in Iceland at the moment – bands like Sign and Tommygun Preachers are doing great things at home and abroad which bodes well for the future of Icelandic guitar music. It could be more inventive but who cares when they have the songs and talent to turn your mood from rainy-day blues to California-sunshine happy.

LA-style rock in the middle of the old Sirkus car park, however, is something rarer than ‘big news’ which made Atomstation’s impromptu performance last week a bit special. Their stage was a tent bought from Bonus and crowd was mainly made up of confused tourists (“Gene, why are there hairy men playing loud music in a car park? I thought Iceland was meant to be peaceful…anyway, can you see the Northern Lights yet?” ) and lots of old Sirkus regulars. Atomstation were brilliant and their album, Exile Republic, is one of my favourites so far this year – if it doesn’t win some sort of IMA recognition then it’ll be a surprise.

Even the lead singer had a Tom Selleck ‘tache in honour of the legendary Sirkus Tom Selleck Moustache Competition, but he may have just had it anyway. Nice fuzz though.

They have three live dates in the next few weeks so go see them for yourself.

Valgeir has produced, or worked on, all of Bjork’s albums since 1998 which makes him the Icelandic equivalent of George Martin, except that Valgeir’s studio in Iceland is far nicer than the Beatles old basement hang out.

He will be showcasing his new solo album at the gig, which is by all accounts a pretty special piece of work and has attracted excellent reviews from esteemed organs such The Times (4/5). American folk singer Sam Amidon is also playing.

Minus have been busy, really busy by the looks of it, and they’ve just released a video podcast covering the recording of their new album on the golden shores of California. Although this was recorded some months ago, it’s still pretty interesting to see the band in the studio and the new material, as far as I’m aware, has yet to make an official appearance in the UK.

If you click here (or below) when iTunes is open, it should automatically load the podcast.

They’ve been recording with Joe Barresi who’s something of a legend in the US, having worked with Queens of the Stoneage and Tool, so the new material sounds like it might have a more “polished” side that was maybe lacking in some of their rougher releases. Tool’s 10,000 Days is one of my favourite albums from the past two years so if Joe Barresi has been guiding the band in the same way, it should be worth the wait and then some.

The podcast also covers the recording of the new version of Throwaway Angel, as highlighted in my previous post.

One of Iceland’s most credible metal bands, Minus (signed to One Little Indian in the UK), are releasing their long-awaited Great Northern Whalekill album on these shores soon and they’ve given Icelandic music mag Monitor a track for us all to enjoy before it appears as the B-side to their first UK single.

The song is an acoustic version of ‘Throwaway Angel’ and you can listen to it here or here

The lyric ‘exector of God’s wrath – sit next to me’ scares me a little but I know they’re into deep subjects as whaling, religion and Pantera, thus these interests are reflected in the nature of their excellent recordings.